Use KindleGen and Kindle Previewer to create the electronic edition and check quality. The linux version of calibre is used to check the generated .mobi file, and to tag and edit metadata. Then, upload the generated .mobi file to the Kindle Direct Publishing web-app, and fill in all rest of the metadata in a browser.

This file is then exported as a transparent bitmap, at 2560 x 1600 @ 300dpi.

Next step is to process it in CS6 Photoshop on Mac OS X. The following transforms:

Layer->Flatten

Image->Image Size to 2560 x 1600

File->Save As jpeg, 9, 10, 11 qualities, but adjust to hit below 800k

HTML doc

Re-write example to suit Gone Awry, based on prototyping with a DocBook 5.0 XML form to generate the beginning HTML. Take this, edit the .opf and .ncx files to create a manifest and a table of contents/touch list, and bundle it up with the toplevel “images” directory such that the resulting filenames in the generated “gone-awry.opf” file are correct.

Kindle (KF8) doc

Unpack kindle binaries on linux, and run on the master list of files (the .opf file) as:

kindlegen gone-awry-v2.html -c0 -verbose gone-awry.opf

That should chug along, spewing a bunch of information. Pay attention, and fix any issues. The last bit of information before a successful creation of the .mobi file is related to the file size, and download time. Something like:

From this, one can make back-of-the-envelope calculations about the royalty rates. For 70% royalties, the publisher must pay Amazon $0.15 per 1MB of .mobi file delivered. Thus, for a 40MB file, the delivery charge would be $6. So, the price would have to be more than this to break even. For 30% royalties, there is no delivery fee so pricing could feasibly drop below $6.

Future work would be to shift to SVG containers, improving text legibility by un-rasterizing the text or presenting a vector text layer, and look at ways to add “scroll anchors” such that a “page flick” motion would speed through the next couple of pages before alighting on the specified anchor.

Two horizontal pieces, each with accompanying vertical ensigns. Large format screenprints on Japanese paper.

Each piece contains at least one unique mark indicating an anniversary year. There are one, two, ten, fifty, or hundred year anniversary year marks to choose from. Some of the pieces contain multiple marks: a joint hundred-and-fifty year anniversary. A combined ten-, fifty-, and hundred-year anniversary. A massed cloud of ten-year anniversaries. A broken grid of two year marks.

In theory, this is similar to the numerology behind the Japanese festival Shichi-Go-San (7-5-3), but for older people and spanning much wider spans of years, including multiple generations. So, one version is 100-10-2. Another version is 100-50-10.

The hundred-year anniversary of John Cage’s birth. The fifty-year anniversary of the favorite dojo opening. A ten-year wedding anniversary. Two-year anniversary of Tohoku tsunami, the two-year anniversary of the Syrian uprising. A child’s first birthday.

Cali Blue Horizon Ensigns, 2013

Two narrow diptychs, flanking. Two strips of paper, joined in the middle to form one narrow vertical band and hung where two walls meet. If desired, both planes that meet at the corner can each have a slightly different ensign at the meeting point. Size is 90mm x 965.2mm for each strip, so a total surface area of 90mm x 1930.4mm. Hand-fed inkjet on re-sized surface gampi.

Composition elements include:

010, 050, 100 anniversary elements

moon painting

sunset fragments

fades

Cali Contrails, 2013

Wide diptych. Four irregularly-sized sheets of paper, joined in the middle to form one wide horizontal band with visible cuts. Size is 431.8mm x 965.2mm for each sheet, so a total surface area of 863.6mm x 970mm. Hand-fed inkjet on re-sized surface gampi.

Composition elements include:

010 anniversary element, cloud clusters

002 anniversary element, radiant grid

San Francisco to Los Angeles contrails

sharkfin sails

fades

knot line contrails

type regression simulations

Cali Blue Moon Ensign, 2013

Narrow diptych. Two strips of paper, joined in the middle to form one narrow vertical band and hung where two walls meet. If desired, both planes that meet at the corner can each have a slightly different ensign at the meeting point. Size is 90mm x 965.2mm for each strip, so a total surface area of 90mm x 1930.4mm. Hand-fed inkjet on re-sized surface gampi.

Composition elements include:

100 anniversary elements

moon painting

100-to-1 owls

fades

A Future Technique, 2013

Wide triptych. Three long sheets of paper, one with a section cut out, joined at the edges to form one wide horizontal band. Size is 431.8mm x 965.2mm for each sheet, so a total surface area of 1295.4mm x 970mm. Hand-fed inkjet on re-sized surface gampi.